What to make of Yonder Hill, the farm situated on the R44 between Stellenbosch and Somerset West? Frikkie and Danila Naudé acquired it in 1997 and it’s steadily trucked along since then without really every scaling any great heights of quality. It’s a small farm with only some 6ha under vine, the experienced Abé Beukes [...]

1. Imported oil is better than local oil The Mediterranean, especially countries like Spain, Greece and Italy, has a long heritage of olives and olive oil. Some of their trees are thousands of years old and they have been making table olives and olive oil for just as long. With all that experience, you’d expect [...]

One of the worst things about Cape Town is you will almost always know someone wherever you go. This lack of anonymity has people constantly posturing, keenly aware that somebody they know is watching them and will report back to their peers at the next dinner party or book club. Even those not posing are [...]

Journey’s End Vineyards on the Schapenberg is owned by the Gabb family who know a thing or two about selling wine – Roger Gabb founded Western Wines in 1980, the company responsible for the hugely successful Kumala brand. When you consider the current Journey’s End range, however, it’s not clear what the vision for the [...]

Whereas the The Black Swan 2012 was 100% Sauvignon Blanc, the 2013 contains 10% unwooded Semillon and a very clever addition it is, too. The wine spent nine months on the lees and was only released in December last year. There’s plenty going on here –a pleasing herbaceous top note which always seems to the [...]

Farming on the slopes of the Riviersonderend mountains outside Greyton, Samantha O’Keefe has been making a name for herself with her Viognier but her Chardonnay 2012 is right up there, too. Matured in a combination of 225-litre and 300-litre barrels for 11 months, the wine shows citrus, oatmeal, some leesy complexity and a touch of [...]

How did you become interested in wine? I grew up in one of South Africa’s most exciting wine regions, namely Walker Bay. During high school there were a lot of vineyards being planted, cellars built and estates developed. So it seemed like an exciting and creative industry to build a career in – a decision [...]

Writing a blog on Grape about hard times for some southern hemisphere wine producers (including a South Africa which has maybe more elements of good news thrown in right now), it struck me, not for the first time, how difficult it is to make generalisations about “the South African wine industry” – perhaps any wine [...]